It is founded (and dependant) on a social contract, otherwise known as a gentleman's agreement. Unsporting conduct (whether extreme or simply "being a jerk") should not be tolerated by players. Refusing to play with antisocial persons is the fastest way to better EDH community.

However, because players have varied opinions of what constitutes fair and/or fun play, a recommended banned list is maintained to help guide players towards a good social experience. House rules or "fair play" exceptions are always encouraged if they result in more fun for the local community.

If you want to enjoy the type of games you've heard associated with EDH, avoid cards like these:

Players must choose a legendary creature as the "General" for their deck.

League Rule An EDH "League" consists of a regular group of players who frequently play together using the same decks. No two players in a league game may have the same General. Within a given league, Generals are allocated first-come, first-serve and are preserved between meetings/games. No player may have, in his or her deck, the General of any other player in the game; it should be replaced with some other card before the game begins.

The Roll Call forum provides a tool for organizing and publicizing EDH leagues and reserved Generals.

Open Play Rule: Open play EDH rules are used for games between opponents who do not routinely play together. Generals are not subject to the Legendary rule, although other creatures of the same name are; if a General and a non-General creature of the same name are in play, only the non-General is put into the graveyard by state-based effects. If two opponents in the same game have the same General and both are in play, neither is put into the graveyard (although other, non-General, versions are).

The General's mana cost defines what colour of mana symbols may appear on cards in the deck.

Coloured mana symbols which may appear in an EDH deck are restricted to the colours appearing in the General's mana cost.

Lands whose type includes swamp, island, plains, forest and/or mountain (e.g.: basic lands, shocklands, dual lands, Shadowmoor special-basics, etc) DO contain the corresponding mana symbol(s) as per CR 212.6g. As such, they may not appear in a deck unless the General is of the corresponding colour(s).

While Hybrid mana symbols may be played with either colour mana, they count as both colours. As such, they may only be played with a general which is ALL of the hybrid mana symbols' colours.

Basic land words (swamp, forest, etc) in the text box of a card do NOT represent a coloured mana symbol.

They are not restricted to generals of the same colour.

An Example of what cards are/aren't allowed in a three colour deck. A deck with Phelddagrif (Casting cost 1UWG) as the General may not contain any red or black mana symbols. * These cards would all be illegal in a Phelddagrif deck: o Goblin Piker (Its mana cost contains a red mana symbol) o Elves of Deep Shadow (Its ability contains a black mana symbol) o Talisman of Dominance (All sorts of verbotten mana symbols) o Life//Death (Three shall be the number of the colours) o Degavolver (... right out) * Our Phelddagrif couldn't use any of these lands: o Underground River (Obvious, see above) o Godless Shrine o Dual Lands o Leechridden Swamp, etc) * Phelddagrif may not call upon Boros Guildmage for help * Phelddagrif IS allowed to use: o Esper Panorama o Shard Convergence

A deck may not generate mana outside its colours.

Anything which would generate mana of an illegal colour generates colourless mana instead.

An EDH deck must contain exactly 100 cards, including the General.

With the exception of basic lands, no two cards in the deck may have the same english name.

EDH is played with vintage legal cards, with two exceptions: * cards are legal as of their set's prerelease * Shahrazad is legal for play in EDH

Generals begin the game in Exile.

Being a General is not a characteristic[MTG CR201], it is a property of the card.

As such, "Generalness" cannot be copied or overwritten by continuous effects, and does not change with control of the card.

Examples: A Body Double copying a General in a graveyard is not a General. A General which is affected by Cytoshape, or is face down, is still a General.

Combat Damage dealt by a General to a player is called General Damage. If, at any point, a player has been dealt 21 points of General Damage by the same General, they lose the game. Explain

* This is an additional state based effect. * General Damage is specific to each creature/player pairing. * Because a card does not cease to be a General when it changes zones, General Damage is not reset by the card changing zones (e.g.: going to the graveyard or exile from play). * General Damage previously taken is not reduced by lifegain. (eg: Beacon of Immortality) * General Damage taken is reduced by damage prevention or replacement effects. (eg: Fog) * A player will lose if his or her own General deals 21 points of combat damage to its control while controlled by someone else.

While a General is in exile, it may be played. As an additional cost to play your General this way, you must pay {2} for each previous time you have played it this way.

If a General would be put into a graveyard from anywhere, its owner may exile it instead. (This is a replacement effect: the creature never goes to the graveyard and will not trigger such abilities)

Players begin the game with 40 life.

The first time a player takes a paris mulligan, they draw 7 cards (instead of 6). The second mulligan is to 6, and so forth.

I've been working on EDH decks since my other friends play it and it's a lot of fun. Basically get to reuse cards you own and can find some nice $1 cards to fill it. If you really want to spend the money you buy some of the rare cards and dual lands.

Oh yeah, the decks I'm working on are mono white, black/green/white, and a red/blue deck.

Still trying to wrap my head around this and understand how EDH works, but WHY HAS NO ONE TOLD ME ABOUT THIS!? This format sounds REALLY interesting, and yet I have heard no one talk about it anywhere. I saw that Alternate Universe was having a Peasant EDH Tournament and I didn't know what the EDH stood for, so I Googled it and lo' and behold I found this format which had been tucked away for some reason out of my sight.

I recently built an EDH deck too. Good to know next time we're pared against each other and the round ends early due to one player absolutely trouncing the other, James.

The good thing about EDH is that it CAN be cheap. I mean, a lot of the cards that are EDH staples are junk rares. It can also be ridiculously expensive (Underground Sea, Sol Ring, Umezawa's Jitte, go).

intrinsic wrote:There is another EDH thread in this subforum with the rules posted just a few posts below yours actually, but didnt garner much attention.

Probably should have looked before posting. I got all excited xD

Slyphidine wrote:The good thing about EDH is that it CAN be cheap. I mean, a lot of the cards that are EDH staples are junk rares. It can also be ridiculously expensive (Underground Sea, Sol Ring, Umezawa's Jitte, go).

I would go the route of making a cheap deck. I do like the 1 card rule, which I know is in Big Deck as well. It means not needing to find 3-4 copies of a good card which saves me time and money.

The general part still confuses me. I understand the deck construction and that you can only have color that the General is and that the General has to be a legend, (which doesn't mean it has to be rare) but what about if I use THIS GUY? Would my deck just need to be 100 cards of any color or would each of those cards need to be WUBRG?

Your deck can only use the colors of your General's mana cost. So that means if Reaper King was your General, you can use any color cards. On the other hand, if your General was Rhys the Redeemed, you can't run Momentary Blink. And you can't run a General that uses a different color from its mana cost in an activated ability (such as this guy).

Slyphidine wrote:Your deck can only use the colors of your General's mana cost. So that means if Reaper King was your General, you can use any color cards. On the other hand, if your General was Rhys the Redeemed, you can't run Momentary Blink. And you can't run a General that uses a different color from its mana cost in an activated ability (such as this guy).

Ah, okay I see now. I'll have to make one and see how it works.

Looking this over has actually given me an idea for a new format ... I just need to figure out how to make it work ... I'll tell you guys my idea tonight and see how you guys feel about it.